Two Singaporeans through to next stage

19th March, K.Lumpur: Two Singapore national bowlers, Basil Low and Jasmine Yeong-Nathan were through to the quarter-finals of the 33rd Canon Malaysian International Open at Sunway Mega Lanes on Friday. Having only squeezed through by finishing 20th out the the 27 spots available in the earlier Round 1 finals, Basil Low started the second round with a superb 231 but stumbled with a low 169 in the second game.

Low got his composure back again after that with a third game of 208 and then went on a strikefest to roll a high game of 278 to put himself in contention for a spot in the next round.

The 18-year-old Singaporean rounded off a fine effort with 225, 202, 178 and 208 to manage a sixth place finish with 1686 pinfalls. Malaysians, Adrian Ang and defending champion, Zulmazran Zulkifli were on a roll taking up the top 2 positions with 1873 and 1861 respectively.   Two-handed three-time European Tour champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland impressed in third spot with 1822 followed by a third Malaysian, Yusuf Bin Abdul Raof in fourth with 1759. Thailand’s Yannaphon Larpapharat took fifth spot ahead of Low with 1757.

Two Emiratis, Hussain Al-Suwaidi and top seeded qualifier, Shaker Al-Hassan both squeezed into the knockout stage in seventh and eighth positions with 1686 and 1682 respectively. 2009 Asia Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong missed the cut in ninth.

Two other SIngaporean, Christopher Hwang and Justin Lim Chun Liang, who made this round after finishing sixth and 21st in the earlier Round 1, failed to progress and ending up in 16th and 21st places respectively. Meanwhile, 2008 AMF World Cup champion, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan showed a return of form to tie third spot with 2007 Malaysian Open champion, Zandra Aziela of Malaysia with 1660. Jasmine had lines of 206, 182, 222, 204, 214, 227, 201 and 204.

Bernice Lim, who finished fourth in Round 1, could not repeat the form to crash out in 18th behind another Singaporean failing to progress, New Hui Fen in 16th position. Shayna Ng was unlucky having missed the cut in ninth just 12 pins away.

American PBA pro, Kelly Kulick, who led Round 1, was again in fine form topping the second round with 1812. Taiwan’s Chien Hsiu-Lan took second spot with 1777. 2003 Malaysian Open champion, Liza Del Rosario took fifth behind Jasmine and Zandra. Three others to advance were Malaysian Hee Kar Yen (6th), Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia (7th) and 2005 Malaysian Open champion, Siti Safiyah Amirah (8th).

Basil Low has a daunting task of facing third-seed Osku Palermaa of Finland in the best-of-3 matches in the quarter-finals while Jasmine will meet sixth-seed, Hee Kar Yen. The winners of the quarter-finals will advance into the semis and subsequently the finals to decide the champion.

  Photos by Terence Yaw.